THE SARAH FACTOR – AT 8:51 P.M. ET:  Like her or not like her, Sarah Palin is the most intriguing political personality in America today.  She is also one of the most influential.  The buzz about a possible 2012 run for the presidency is growing.

But Palin's negatives are very high, partly because of the unprecedented smear campaign waged against her by the media in 2008, and partly because of her own mistakes and, at times, lack of preparation.  She's improved dramatically, in my view, and is now hinting at a run for the White House.  The Politico reports:

Speaking to a group of well-connected Republicans at a private dinner in Florida this week, Sarah Palin implicitly addressed questions about her own electability by noting that critics also said Ronald Reagan couldn’t win in 1980, three attendees told POLITICO.

Palin, at an event organized by the conservative magazine Newsmax, told the right-wing crowd that those who don’t have the same convictions will always say a true conservative can’t win.

She makes a good point, of course, but please note that Ronald Reagan had been a two-term governor of our most populous state. 

Pointing out that the knock on Reagan was that he was also too far to the right, the former Alaska governor repeatedly invoked the 40th president and conservative icon, at one point citing the quotation he was most fond of: that America is a “shining city on a hill.”

“I think she sees herself as heir to Reagan,” said one attendee.

And it could turn out that way.  The Republican establishment was afraid of Reagan in 1980, and, as many readers will recall, tried to saddle him with former President Gerald Ford as his vice presidential choice, running together as a "co-presidency."  That idea, thankfully, went nowhere.

Her invoking of the Gipper at a closed-door gathering illustrates that Palin is, at the very least, thinking through how she’d make her case if she pursued the presidency. And combined with the recent revelation of an e-mail her husband, Todd, sent to Alaska Senate hopeful Joe Miller excoriating him for not saying Palin was qualified to be president, her private comments make clear that the 2008 vice-presidential candidate wants other Republicans to take her seriously as a White House prospect.

I like Sarah Palin.  I've had some doubts about her, but she has grown, she is more assertive, and I still like her.  If she runs, she'd make the 2012 race for the GOP nomination the most interesting since that great contest in 1980.  And hey, as we say in New York, yah never know.

October 8, 2010